Coventry City is heading for a confrontation with its players after asking them to take a pay cut in an effort to save the club from financial ruin.

Coventry City is heading for a confrontation with its players after asking them to take a pay cut in an effort to save the club from financial ruin.

The players are set to reject the plea on the advice of their union, the Professional Footballers? Association.

The PFA has advised its Sky Blue members to turn down a 12 per cent pay deferral on their salaries over the next two years.

Highfield Road chiefs have followed in the footsteps of fellow First Division clubs Watford, Ipswich and Leicester in asking a number of their higher earning players to take a wage deferral to make desperately-needed savings.

Players earning #30,000 a year or more, which includes all the first team squad and some others, have been asked to accept the cut with a view to repaying the deductions if and when the club?s financial position improves. No other members of staff have been asked to take a pay cut.

Most of the first team are on between #4,000 to #8,000 a week and it is believed only a few are close to the #10,000 a week mark. Mo Konjic and Youssef Chippo, bought when the Sky Blues were in the Premiership, are believed to be the highest earners.

Mick McGuire, deputy chief executive of the PFA and a former City player himself, said: ?Regardless of which club it is, we do not agree with any contracts being cut.

?We do not believe this is an appropriate way forward and it is against the rules of the Football League - the very same rules that protect clubs from players walking out on them.

?We fully expect the contracts to be honoured and we have asked the players to honour this view. We feel there are more appropriate ways to sort the situation out and we will be speaking to Coventry City and their players in the next week to look at ways round it.?

The club say the move has come about following the loss of income due to the collapse of broadcaster ITV Digital, in addition to the knock-on effects of the failure, including the subsequent lack of support from major investors and the total disintegration of the domestic transfer market.